"They are all my friends," MariateBanda, standingat center,says of the laughing women who
fill the Cinderellabeauty shop in Mfuwe. Visitors to South Luangwa National Parkflock through
town, butfew venture into this shop, which lacks the modern hairdryers travelersexpect. Her
small salary makes saving difficult, but Mariate has a goal: "My life's ambition is to have my
own equipment," she says-even a dryerfor tourists.Despitepoverty, disease, and daunting
conservation challenges, Zambians share Mariate'sgently indomitable optimism. They believe
they can lift up their struggling nation and make their children'slives better than their own. O